Carole Wilson

Laura_s ball club

CHAPTER ONE

Laura Cutter was furious. Even her mother said that a twelve year old young lady who was beginning to develop like one ought to leave baseball to the boys! Can you just imagine in this day and age leaving everything to the boys just like it was 1800 or some ancient time like that! She snapped her long blond pigtails in the air like two ferocious whips as she turned on her heel and left the sand lot where the boys in the neighborhood were having a wonderful time playing baseball and wouldn't let her play! Well, she had the right to have a good time, too, didn't she? Why were all the fun things left for the boys? She liked to play hockey, or example, and what did her mother want her to do? She insisted that Laura take figure skating lessons! Of all the stupid things to do! What good are figure skating lessons? What you had to do was get the experience so that you were able to place the puck exactly where it was supposed to go. Figure skating lessons were sure a laugh when it came to doing anything useful like that! And now it seemed as if the whole world was against her playing baseball too!

"Hi, Janie," she suddenly called, seeing her pal on the way to the sand lot, coming at her in the other direction. "They won't let you play," she announced sourly. "Boys! They think they know everything!" She expected to see Janie get really angry, because she liked a good game of baseball or hockey as much as Laura did, but Janie seemed to be looking for someone.

"Hey, Laura, have you seen Mack?" Janie asked, not perturbed about the unfair conditions for girls in Hobbs Corner at all!

"I don't care if I never see him," Laura spat. "What's it to you to see a boy?"

Now Janie Farragut focused her attention on her old friend, seeing for herself that Mack Toohey was not at the sand lot.

"Well if you want to get to play with boys, you got to know how to go about doing it, Laura. You don't be stupid about it."

"Are you calling me stupid?" Laura said, blazing at her old friend, her buddy, she thought.

"Oh, naw, come off it, Laura. What I mean is these guys ain't the only guys in town, and there are other baseball games in other places."

"Where?"

"Other places I know," the dark-haired, freckle-nosed Janie whispered mysteriously. "Only you have to join the club to play."